The Price Of One's Dreams
by Ebenbild
Summary: "He's but a child, and yet, he's already burdened by so many responsibilities," Florean Fortescue knows. "No parents, no true family, yet in the end, he has to stand alone against a monster one day. Is it fair for me to sit by and do nothing?" But that's exactly what Florean promised to do in exchange for his dreams... Could be canon.


_**Disclaimer**_ _: I'm too young to be Rowling so there is sadly no way Harry Potter is mine…_

 _ **Placing:**_ _Summer_ _in_ _Third, Fifth and Sixth Year, and Seventh Year_ _._

 _Event: 'May The Force Be With You'. Prompt_ _: (_ _character_ _)_ Anakin Skywalker: Write about a character with a secret identity _. 1000_ _words_ _._ _Gryffindor_ _,_ _Hogwarts_ _._

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sSsSsSsSs

 _ **THE PRICE OF ONE'S DREAMS**_

sSs

 _Sometimes, the hardest thing to do was sit by and watch._

"You're doing homework again today, lad?" He ask, watching the youth removing a book, some parchment, ink and a quill from his bag.

"I planned to, Mr Fortescue," the youth replied. "It's quite nice to sit here and work on my school stuff, you know?"

"Aye," he said. "You want an ice-cream going with this as well or are you just planning to sit here and occupy my table?"

"I would never dare to do something like that, Mr Fortescue!" The boy objected. "Of course I want an ice-cream! I just don't know which one I'd like!"

"How about I wipe up a surprise for you?" He said to the boy and the boy smiled.

"That would be awesome, Mr Fortescue!"

"And if you need help with some stuff in there" – he pointed at the book in front of the youth on the table – "Just holler and I'll see what I can do to help you!"

"Thank you, Mr Fortescue! I will!" The boy replied smiling and Florean left to decide on an ice cream for the child who had been coming to his shop all week already.

 _Sometimes, it really was hard to sit by and watch someone else struggle under his burden._

"But that's your lot in life, Florean," he reminded himself. "That was the deal you struck, the bargain that gives you a way to live your life like you wanted to."

But sometimes, Florean wondered if his dreams were really worth it to keep sitting by and watching others struggle…

"He's but a child, and yet, he's already burdened by so many responsibilities," Florean thought sadly while he brought the boy his ice cream. "No parents, no true family, yet in the end, he has to stand alone against a monster one day. Is it fair for me to sit by and do nothing?"

Florean forced himself to shake off that thought and returned to his tasks. However, he couldn't ignore it when the child looked ready to throw his quill against the nearest wall because he had trouble understanding his texts, so Florean pulled out a chair and sat down next to him.

"Let me help you," he said. "Let me explain it to you."

And the boy nodded and listened to the words Florean had to say.

That summer, the youth learned more about magic than he had in those two years while he attended school, and yet, when he left for school again in September, Florean couldn't help but feel guilty.

"Is it truly right to sit by and watch him struggle?" He asked himself. "Is it truly worth to send him down that dark path without any help by his side?"

The boy wasn't alone – but in the end he would have to face the murderer of his parents without anyone but his friends and the souls of the dead by his side.

"Am I truly doing the right thing by forcing him to go through all of that alone?" Florean asked aloud.

"It doesn't matter how much we wish it, Florean," a soft voiced red-head replied. "It is his burden to bear. There's nothing we can do to ease it without giving the enemy a way to wiggle out of his just punishment."

"I know," Florean replied. "But I wish I wouldn't have to sit by and watch him suffer, anyway. He is but a child. He shouldn't be the one to carry the burden."

Then he shook his head, removed that thoughts from his mind and returned to his work.

It would take another two years until he was confronted with his decision to sit by again.

" _Harry Potter – Delusional and Dangerous_?" The Daily Prophet wrote. One article after another, simply written to destroy a child's reputation.

Florean hated those articles.

"You know you can't do anything," the red-head reminded him while touching his shoulder with her translucent hands. "This was your bargain. As long as you sit by, you can live your dream."

"I'm not sure my dream is worth it," he replied. "This is the life of a child, Lily. Your child, to be precise."

"I know," the red-headed soul next to him replied. "But won't you regret it if you give all this up just to help my son?"

Florean knew that he would, and yet…

"He is but a child," he said. "Nearly my child as well."

"He will manage," she replied. "He will have to."

 _But was that truly enough for Florean to keep his promise?_

The answer came the summer after. This was the third summer Florean hadn't seen the child and this time the wizarding world was quivering in fear after finding out that You-Know-Who was still alive.

Death Eaters had come to the alley and were hurting people left, right and centre.

"You know what will happen if you interfere," Lily warned him, but this time he couldn't sit by anymore.

"I know," he said. "And I know I will regret it – but I will do it anyway."

Lily just smiled sadly.

"I understand," she said. "I was already wondering how long you will keep to just watching."

Florean smiled at her sadly.

"Thank you for guiding me, Lily," he said. "I guess I won't need your advice anymore."

With that he stepped out of his ice-cream parlour and raised his hands.

"If this is my last deed in this life, let's make it a good one," he said and his hands started to glow in the colour of the killing curse.

That day, Garrick Ollivander would be kidnapped from Diagon Alley.

That day, the Dark Lord would lose twenty-eight Death Eaters and fourteen werewolves to death.

That day, Florean Fortescue would take his last breath.

"Was it truly worth your dreams?" Lily asked softly while watching her little boy fighting and killing Voldemort.

Florean smiled sadly.

"It was my choice," he said. "If I hadn't done it, my 'son' would have felt guilty for not preventing it his whole life. So yes, in the end, the loss of my dreams were worth it."

With that, he slipped his 'son' a black stone branded with the sign of the Deathly Hallows. The boy, the wand of elder wood and thestral hair still in his hands and the Invisibility Cloak over his shoulders didn't notice it while he talked to his friends.

"It's time to come home, son," Florean said that night and the boy looked at him in surprise.

"Death?" he asked.

"One and the same," Florean agreed.

 _He would never sit by and watch 'his child' struggle ever again._

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 _Just a little idea_

 _Hope you liked it_

 _Ebenbild_


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